Courage, Resilience, Wholeness & Hope

Tag Archives: Air pollution

Within hours of my finishing my post about air pollution, Los Angeles’ air quality went back in the toilet. I was stuck inside my house with air purifiers for two days and desperate to get out. So I turned on my car air purifier and headed to the mall. Stretching my muscles by walking in the mall seemed like a good antidote to cabin fever.

My cell phone rang on the way to the mall and, trying to be a law-abiding citizen for once, I pulled to the side of the road to answer. When I tried to start the car again, the battery was dead.

So, after taking meticulous care of my lungs and writing about how important this is in the hope that others would take my advice and care for their lungs, I waited an hour in gross, polluted air for roadside assistance to jump my car. If I hadn’t been laughing so hard at the irony of the evening I would have pulled my hair out and screamed.

I didn’t dare go to the mall, after all. I went home to my air purifiers and watched N.C.I.S.

Car air purifier running, I drove through smog to Sears this morning to buy a new battery. I decided to have some overdue routine maintenance done at the same time and called my husband to discuss whether I should come home while mechanics serviced the car. He reminded me about the air pollution I was breathing in the service department’s waiting area and recommended I come home. Oh yeah. Duh.

My brain was already so mushy from crappy air that I had forgotten this important information. Me, of all people!!! Ironic, huh?

By the time I climbed in Mark’s truck and turned on the air purifier, I had breathed serious air garbage for over an hour. I was a mush brain with slow, slurred speech, an aching chest, and a queasy stomach. So much for practicing what I preached just days before. Thank goodness for people who remind me when I forget.

Three hours later, my brain still isn’t functioning on enough cylinders to do the type of writing I had scheduled for today. Help! The deadline on that assignment is in stone and getting close. I need my brain back.

I guess this shows why air quality is a crusade for me. I know, personally, how much it can affect our health. Hear the canary sing: Cheep. Cheep. Gasp.

Like this:

No, I do not wear a gas mask. But … air quality is a life and death matter in my life. Literally.

If you already have heart or lung problems and live in an area with poor air quality or commute in traffic, air pollution is already making your life harder and injuring your health. If you are healthy, the damaging effects of air pollution will be evident long-term. Fear not. I have good news about how to make sure you breathe clean air and protect your health. I am living proof that the suggestions below make a difference.

First, a few words about why air quality matters. No matter how healthy we are right now, breathing the fine particles in air pollution has a cumulative negative effect, much as eating an unhealthy diet has a cumulative impact on our health, longevity, and quality of life.

Large particles in the air such smoke and dust are easily visible. Bad as they are, however, they are not the super dangerous stuff. It is the smaller stuff that gets us. These are known as fine particulates, or PM 2.5. Thirty times smaller than a human hair, PM 2.5 scars the tiny air passages in our lungs that transfer oxygen into the blood, permanently reducing our lung function over time. Even worse, they are small enough to move through the blood into the rest of the body. They travel to our heart, brain, and other organs, causing both short- and long-term damage.

Here is some good news: A landmark study published this week demonstrates that reducing air pollution in Los Angeles over the past two decades has had a statistically significant impact on children’s health. Scientists at the University of Southern California found that “Millennial children living in Southern California are breathing easier, have stronger lungs and suffer fewer respiratory problems than children who grew up with dirtier air in the 1990s,” writes Steve Scauzillo of the Los Angeles News Group (3/5/15). Said James Gauderman at the Keck School of Medicine, Between 1990 and 2010, air pollution decreased by nearly in the Los Angeles basin. During that time, the number of 15-year-olds with significant lung deficits decreased by more than 50%. Additionally, children’s lungs from the end of the study were larger than those of children from the early part of the research period. This is the first research to demonstrate such definitive results.

While all of us work on cleaning the air in our exterior environment, there is much you can do to make the air you breath in your home, office and car healthy. Taking the steps will keep you healthier and help you feel better. All of these (except #16) are part of my life now and make a difference. (Number 16 is beyond my budget.) Some can be found on brochures in doctors’ offices or on the links I have included. Others come from my experience and that of friends. If you have suggestions or links to share, please include them in a comment.

The Best New Things in My Life for Health Lungs and Freedom on Bad Air Days(and my reason for writing this post in the first place)

1. Best Low Tech: The Chimney Plug. Imagine a plastic pillow that snugs beneath the damper in your fireplace. When I read about this as a device for reducing drafts and saving on energy cost (winter and summer), I realized it could also improve the efficiency of my air purifiers by preventing particulates and air pollution from entering my house through the fireplace. Within one day of putting in chimney plugs, the air quality in my house was so good that I ate dinner and watched a movie in our family room, even with gross air outside. I bought the Chimney Plug for $55.00 on-line. (Also available on Amazon)

2. Best New High Tech Thing in My Life: The GoPure Car Air Purifier. This plugs into a 12v charger. It has medical quality HEPA and HESA filters that remove PM 2.5, VOCs, and odors. It is the only one I found with this quality of filtration and the only one that does not create ozone. It is pricey ($135.00), but worth it. This gadget helps you stay healthy and breathe freely no matter how much time you spend in traffic. Mark and I tested it recently by driving across Los Angeles to the coast when the AQI (Air Quality Index) was dangerously high at 167. The drive took more than 90 minutes each way, but our air stayed so clean that I was symptom free the entire time. Without a GoPure, I would have been ill within ten minutes. This gave me the freedom to linger over ceviche and beer at the beach, and make it home still feeling great. Freedom!

Other Steps You Can Take to Breathe Better Right Now

Check your local air quality on-line regularly. Check Southern California here, or elsewhere in the United States, Canada, and other countries here.

Sign up for air quality alerts if you live in an area with periodically high levels of air pollution.

Buy HEPA filters for your home ventilation system and change them every two months. These remove PM 2.5.

Encase your mattress and pillows in allergy barriers. Fine particulates accumulate in pillows and mattresses, then enter our lungs while we are asleep.

Remove living plants from your bedroom. The soil generates stuff that can exacerbate breathing and heart problems.

Buy a HEPA filter for your vacuum cleaner. HEPA filters are the only ones that remove PM 2.5, so always look for HEPA on filters and purifiers.

Buy a HEPA room air purifier, at least for your bedroom. It does not have to be expensive, just make sure it Is HEPA standard, appropriate for the size of your room, and does not create ozone. These can be quiet and unobtrusive. Many have washable filters. They are available at Target, Best Buy, Sears, and on-line. I have seven and use them through-out the house on poor air days. When the air is poor, close your windows and turn on the air purifiers.

Use environmentally friendly cleaning supplies.

Replace wall-to-wall carpet with hard surface flooring. It is astounding how much dust, dirt, and dander accumulates in carpet. Work with a company attuned to air quality issues and VOCs. Make sure the new flooring does not contain formaldehyde.

If you already have heart or lung problems, wear a mask when dusting, trimming the garden, or grooming your pets. I often forget to do this until partway through the project and then regret my forgetfulness. If I will be around VOCs and fumes, I use masks from the hardware store. Since I feel like I am suffocating in those, however, I prefer lightweight medical masks from the drug store for other tasks.

If you insist on cycling to work when the air is gross, wear a lightweight medical mask such as above. A hardware store mask would not allow enough oxygen to get to your lungs.

Keep your floors particulate free by using a Roomba (robotic vacuum) every few days. A Roomba keeps you from having to make time to vacuum constantly but eliminates the residue of air pollution. These are available at Costco and on-line.

Have your chimney cleaned by a chimney sweep every few years.

Don’t burn wood in your fireplace. Use natural gas.

Eliminate all sources of mold in your home.

Replace your air conditioner. Buy one that filters PM 2.5 and VOCs. The difference this makes is astounding and life-saving. (This one is still on my wish list. I have done everything else but this. All that stands in the way is ….. money.)

Do your part to create clean air for everyone!

Please add share your experience and tips by posting a comment. Good health and good breathing!

On January 5, 2005, I was diagnosed with Congestive Heart Failure. Ten glorious, active years later, I am still going strong. It’s time to party!

I want to dine, drink a toast, sing and dance endlessly with all of you who have been on the journey with me, prayed for me, supported my husband and me, sent me home when I was tired, helped me decorate for parties, rejoiced, cried, and laughed with me. Thank you for dancing this new dance of life with me.

In December, when I realized that my tenth anniversary was around the corner, I decided this event is worth an entire month of celebration. I gave flowers to my doctor’s staff and high-fived my doctor as his eyes glistened. I planned to get together for coffee and meals with friends–old and new–who have danced this new dance with me. January 2015 was going to be a wonderful contrast to the somber tones of January 2005: This January would be full of celebration, energy, and joy.

But January didn’t happen the way I planned. Air pollution hung over the Los Angeles Basin for days at a time. Instead of partying, I spent most weeks sedentary and cooped up in my house to keep my lungs healthy. This was not the January I anticipated, dreamed about and wanted.

After weeks of trying to keep a good attitude (not always successfully), I realized that no rule book says the celebrations have to happen in January. I can just postpone them by a month. I dreamed up the idea of celebrating all month in the first place and I can change it. I just needed to think about it in a new way. Here is the new plan: party in February.

Yes, I would have preferred being out-and-about this month, seeing friends, hiking in the hills, and celebrating life with toasts and a broad smile. On the other hand, since that wasn’t possible, I will consider this latest experience an ironic reminder of how my life and plans turned upside down ten years ago this month. Maybe January 2015 was an appropriate anniversary, after all. Postponing my wining and dining for a month is a small adjustment compared to what I have already done. I can do this one, too.